News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-04-07
.T8TE OF A MORMON GIRL.
THE STORY OF MARY LEE AND
OF HER TWO LOVERS.
She Wanted the Gentle, but the
Mormon Church Designed Her
for Elder Crafty.

She Wanted the Gentle, but the
b. Mormon Church Designed Her
= for Elder Crafty.
JERICHO VALLEY, Utah. years
a ago Samuel Bates, a Mormon, then the
possessor of two wives, Ann and Jane,
! the latter being childless, took Mary
; Lee, an orphan, to bring up according
to the rites of the Church of the Latter
! Day Saints. As Ann had many children
! to comfort her the babe was placed in
. charge of Jane, Il devout Mormon, her
self born in the faith. Mary Lees
parents were from England. Her mother
was delicate little woman, well remem-
bered by many here as fearful and I'M
happy person. Times were hard with
them when they first appeared here, and
they grew harder for some reason. Just
as her husband was about to take q
second wife, evidently against the wishes
of the companion of his youth, he was
killed in snow slide, and three months
after that his widow died, some said of q
broken heart, leaving little Mary alone
in the world. Samuel Bates was some
thing of man among the Molmons.
He was called Brother Bates. His first
wife was hard, coarse woman, but Jane,
to whom the little orphan went, was ten
der, rather good. looking, and filed with
a stern and unbending faith in the divin-
ity of her religion and determination
to "live" it to the end. The child which
thus fell to her partook of her dead
mothers disposition. As she grew to
wUmanhood she became fair to degree
not often seen in these parts, but in
spirit she was gloomy, sad and reticent.
Surrounded by Mormons and taught by
the pious Jane, she became almost a
fanatic on the subject of religion herself,
and readily accepted all that was instilled
into her mind as the inspiration of the
Lord.
A year or two ago Mary Lee became
acquainted with young man living in
mining camp not far from here, a Gen
tile, of course, as no Mormon deIves for
gold and silver. The youth, Seth Bent
ley by name, rarely lost an opportunity
to pay the girl little attentions, and at
length it became the rumor that he was
her accepted lover. She would stroll
away to the foot hills to meet him, of
evenings they would be seen by the
mountain brook which winds through
| the town, and on Sunday afternoons,
!
| away from home, they would be riding
or walking together. Jane made no OPP
! position to the intimacy, but when
| Brother Bates attention was called to
the matter, he felt that it was his duty
20 interfere. Little by little James
mind was won over to his way of think
ing, though at first she had been unsus
pectng. Bentley was forbidden the
] nd &1,o II Il
must never meet him again. But they
met after this, not as a result of Mary's-
disobedience, but by reason of Bentley's
persistence. He found her one day last
summer down by the brook, and when
she would have run from him he caught
her, and, holding her closely, he told her
of his affection for her, and entreated |
her TO become his wife. and in return re
ce1Ved sOlaAo encouragement tIUirI tIIatt :
time on they met Occasionally, unknown
to Brother Bates or to Jane.
In September Brother Bates went to |
New Mexico on an exhortation tour, and |
when he returned in October he brought /
back with him Mormon elder named [.
Crafty, who, seeing Mary Lee, bethought |
him that he would like to take another |
wife, his fifth, and he accordingly
broached the subject to her on the sec
ond day after his arrival The girl re-
PEELED him with horror, but he pressed |
his suit, and at length brought Brother
Bates to his assistance. At first Jane
opposed. the proposition. She was a
sincere Mormon, but her affection for
her foster child got the better of her
faith for a time, and until she could be
placated Elder Crafty had to hang his
harp on the willow. The means resorted
to to bring Jane to see the error of her
ways are familiar to all who have had in
tercOurse with the strange people who
inhabit these valleys. Brother Bates
had vision. Then Elder Crafty had
vision. Then bishop who was passing
through Jericho Valley had a vision.
Then the Sunday-school superintendent,
the Sunday-school teachers and the local
elders and missionaries had visions. By
q singular cOncensus of opinion all had
seen the same thing. Mary Lee was
Gods choice for Elder Cratty's wife.
Still the girl, now most of the time in
tears, like her unhappy mother, dead
sixteen years, shrank from the proffer of
the visitor and her foster mother, the
kindly but superstitious Jane, still de-
INJURED, though growing weaker and
weaker in her opposition.
The visions failing of the desired effect,
Elder Crafty and Brother Bates went up
into the mountains some time last month,
and, fasting for fourteen days and nights,
they wrestled with the Lord, and at the
end of their vigil they were rewarded by
seeing great light and hearing a voice /
from heaven saying that Elder Crafty
should take Mary Lee to wife, and that
further delay would be both unseemly
and displeasing to the Lord. With this
revelation and the further assurance that
q spirit had appeared unto Crafty in /
vision saying that if Mary Lee would I
marry him she would receive the reulli- .
site affection for her husband by praying
for it in the temple, the two wended
their way hOmeward and communicated ]
to Jane the result of their prayers and
fastings. In the face of such undoubted
evidence of the Lords approval that (
good woman could say no more, and {
taking the girl to one side she advised |
her to give up her Gentle lover and
cling to the husband selected for her by I
God, who had promised his servants that 6
if she did not love him now the spirit
would confer great and surprising I
upon her at her nuptials.
Mary Lees own faith was strong, and :
her inclination to follow the teachings
Of her religion was great; but it took t
many more interviews to bring her to |
admit that she had decided to obey the |
When she at last gave her
consent there was much JOY i'll Jericho
Valley, and great company was made
up to go along with the wedding party
to the temple. They were to start by :
wagons on a Monday morning. E
When the sun came up over the noun
ain range that morning it saw Mary Lee q
lown by the brook, revolver in hand, :
stone dead. She had risen during the +
night, and having sought a secluded v
spot where she and Bentley often met, !
,he had taken her appeal at once to the y
Judge of all the earth. Her religion s
would not permit her to marry the man n
If her choice, and her womanhoOd re +
,olted against the alliance which, accord
ng to earthly Interpretation, the unseen
powers had arranged for her. q
AT the time of the recent strike of II
he tobacco workers in a factory i'll Jer I
ev City there were two pet cats i'll the O
actOry which were inseparable. One c
# them went out with the strikers, but II
he other remained in the factory, and o
vhen the strike was over the striking &
at went back with the hands. 1t re Il
used, however, to associate with the |,
aithful cat. The two met by accident b
on one of the floors of the s.
actory, and the cat that went out b
pitched into the other cat and thrashed h